Thanks to all those that expressed interest in the last episode of ‘After Dark’ that The Needle published, in fact it is because my friend James described the last episode we published as a “must watch” on Twitter that I’m publishing this episode.

They are long by the nature of the format but they are also uncensored and this episode like the last includes footage which was not screened when broadcast live. (We get to hear what they were talking about when the adverts were on.) Again, I must stress that I can not guarantee how long this will be available, so enjoy while you can.

A discussion of the unaccountability of the secret services, with former MI5 and MI6 officers. Live and open ended discussion.

The Financial Times described this episode thus;

“Channel 4’s After Dark triumphantly broke all the rules from the beginning…. The first of the new series on Saturday proved that the formula is still working extremely well. The subject was official secrecy, and during the course of the night remarks included: ‘I was in Egypt at the time, plotting the assassination of Nasser’ and ‘Wilson and Heath were destroyed in part by the action of intelligence agents’ and (spoken with incredulity) ‘You mean we shouldn’t have got rid of Allende?’ The hostility between just two of the participants, which often brings most life to the programme, occurred this time between Tony Benn and ex-CIA man Miles Copeland, and it was the fundamental difference in political outlook between these two which informed the entire discussion. Anyone who regarded Benn as a dangerous ‘loony leftie’ but watched right through until 2.00 may have been astonished at his thoroughly conservative British attitudes.”

HOLY CRAP! in the footnotes of the above piece we learn that a guest on this very show, James Rushbridger also met a mysterious end. How horribly synchronicitous. Cut and paste:

Is he related to Alan “Rubbisher” Rushbridger of Graun fame?
——

died the same month as Stephen Milligan, was an ex-MI6 agent and respected investigative journalist specialising in intelligence matters. He was found hanging from a beam in his loft wearing a diving suit at his house in Bodmin Moor, Cornwall in February 1994. When his body was discovered, he was dressed in a green protective suit for use in nuclear, biological or chemical warfare, green overalls, a black plastic mackintosh and thick rubber gloves. His face was covered by a gas mask and he was also wearing a sou’wester. His body was suspended from two ropes, attached to shackles fastened to a piece of wood across the open loft hatch, and was surrounded by pictures of men and mainly black women in bondage. Consultant pathologist Dr Yasai Sivathondan said he died from asphyxia due to hanging “in keeping with a form of sexual strangulation”.

It was reported shortly before his death that he had started work on a controversial book about the Royal Family. The text of the book has never been released, and there were various discrepancies and strange events connected to his death that were reported at the time but have never been fully explained – such as journalists being followed to his house by unmarked cars. He was infamous for writing letters to newspapers which poured scorn on the Official Secrets Act; his books, such as The Intelligence Game, cast doubt on the official version of events. Just before his death, he unearthed Britain’s code-cracking secrets, in particular the story that the British had cracked Japanese naval codes in advance of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

After his death, Sunday Times reporter James Adams quoted senior intelligence officials as saying Rusbridger never had any connection with any branch of British intelligence: “His death was as much a fantasy as his life”, said one source . . . “Rusbridger’s interest in intelligence seems to have coincided with his conviction for theft in 1977″.